1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an IC socket, and more particularly to an improved IC socket which can increase the attachment effect between the IC pins and the socket holes thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Some ICs such as central processing units (CPUs) are quite sensitive to temperature, thus they are apt to be damaged if exposed to high temperature for a period of time such as being directly soldered onto a printed circuit board. Therefore, it is common to provide an IC socket mating with the pins of the IC to replace the latter to be directly soldered on the printed circuit board, thus preventing the IC from being directly exposed to high temperature. FIG. 10 illustrates a conventional IC socket for the above purpose. The conventional IC socket comprises a cover 10 slidably engaged to a base 80. The cover 10 has a plurality of holes 11 formed therethrough for receiving a corresponding number of IC pins 31 which is formed in an IC 30. For clarification, the IC 30, the cover 10 and the base 80 are illustrated partially. The base 80 has a plurality of slots 81 so formed thereon that each one of them corresponds to one of the holes 11 of the cover 10 and is in communication with the corresponding hole 11. The slot 81 has a greater width than the diameter of the hole 11. The cover 10 is slidable on the base 80 for substantially a distance equaling to the width of the slot 81. When the cover 10 is slid on the base 20, each hole 11 thereof can be slid from a first end of a corresponding slot 81 to a second end of the same slot 81, with the pair of the hole 11 and slot 81 being retained in communication with each other.
Each slot 81 also penetrates the socket 80 through the bottom thereof, yet it is not shown in this figure. A conductive plate device 90 is received in each slot 81 for providing electrical contact between the IC pin 31 and the printed circuit board. The conductive plate device 90 has an upper plate 91 longitudinally curved downward and formed as a middle plate 92, which in turn bent downward to form a lower plate 95 which penetrates the bottom of the IC socket base 80 and is soldered on the printed circuit board. A curved plate 93 is extended laterally from the upper plate 91 and bent as a wing plate 94. Before inserting the IC into the socket, the cover 10 has to be in a first position where each of the holes 11 is in communication with a channel 89 formed between the upper plate 91 and a portion of the inner periphery of the slot 81. Subsequently, the IC 30 is inserted into the socket, with each pin 31 thereof being inserted into a corresponding one of the channels 89. However, this does not guarantee that each pin 31 of the IC 30 is electrically contacted to the conductive plate device 90 until the cover 10 is manually pulled in a lateral direction such that each pin 31 of the IC 30 is slid through the curved plate 93 and finally firmly positioned in a clamping area 84 which is defined between the wing plate 94 and an inner portion of the slot 81. Since the conductive plate device 90 is a curved structure, the slot has to include a minimum sectional area allowing the conductive plate device 90 to enter. However, the conductive plate means 90 is not firmly positioned in the slot 81 and is apt to move in the slot 81 when the corresponding pin 31 of the IC 30 is inserted into the slot 81 thus affecting (damaging) the soldering engagement between the socket and the printed circuit board. The bottom portion of the slot 81 has a width greater than the width (diameter) of the IC pin 31, therefore a portion of the slot 81 constitutes a passage for some gaseous soldering flue (when the socket 80 is being soldered on the printed circuit board, a portion of soldering flue is in gaseous state). Therefore, some conductive plate devices 90 are covered by the unrequited soldering flue and have poor electrical contact with the corresponding IC pins 31.
Moreover, a plurality of the conductive plate devices 90 are linked together to be a row before being inserted into the socket. It should be noted that each conductive plate device 90 has to be torn apart from the row before it is inserted into the socket. The wing plate 94 is apt to be deformed caused by improper tear. If the wing plate 94 is deformed, the corresponding pin 31 is not easily fixed between the clamping area 84.
The present invention has arisen to mitigate and/or obviate the afore-described disadvantages of the conventional IC socket.